


you keep me on my toes

by seesaw_yoons



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Coming of Age, Dancer Yeosang, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fashion Student Seonghwa, M/M, Mentions of Eating Disorder, Oneshot, Relationship Study, Yeosang is hurting, seonghwa is an angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27074143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seesaw_yoons/pseuds/seesaw_yoons
Summary: Seonghwa always knows where to find Yeosang when the spotlights dim and the curtains close.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	you keep me on my toes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at any sort of published work! I have been creating an AU and a plot with the hopes of writing a full-length story in the future, but as of now I will be focusing on improving my storytelling and getting used to writing! I decided to start off with a short one-shot, and it is not very dialogue heavy so bare with me. I really love Seongsang's dynamic in ATEEZ, and they are definitely my favourite two people to write and read about.
> 
> That being said, please note that Yeosang and Seonghwa in this story are simply an interpretation, with my personal thoughts and experiences projected into the characters. Anything that happens in this story is solely fictional! Thank you for showing interest.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

The words cut through the chilly air, mixing with the sounds of the ocean waves crashing and the soft music playing in Yeosang’s earbuds. The sun had set a while ago, the sky a dark blue at sundown, and Seonghwa’s familiar silhouette stood basked in the light of the newly risen moon. There was something about the way he always knew where to be at any given time, whether it be at 2PM when Yeosang was stressing over assignments and needed a movie-break, or when it was 9PM like it was now, when past traumas crept up on him unexpectedly and the only way he knew how to cope was to run. So for Seonghwa to have found him at the beach again, it wasn’t much of a surprise. They’d been here countless times since they’d met in the fall of first year, when Yeosang was a wanderer and Seonghwa was hesitant. 

Yeosang felt his earbud shift from his ear to the other’s, and the soft sensation of tapping fingers resting on his thigh. The two sat and watched the shifting sky for some time in a comfortable silence. There was nothing awkward about the atmosphere, with the singing of cicadas filling the emptiness of their unspoken words. The younger directed his gaze to the older, who looked a bit lost in his own little world as Lorde played into their ears. Their eyes met, and Seonghwa just smiled back at him like it was the first time again, when they were 18 and confused about everything.

“You know,” he started, breaking his gaze away towards the sea, “you don’t owe anyone anything, Yeosang.”

The younger huffed, picking up a rock from the sand surrounding them, and throwing it across the water. Seonghwa was too good for him, for anyone. He always knew how to approach these situations they found themselves in, where Yeosang would make stupid decisions and have the older chase after him, as if he was some delicate thing threatening to break. He’d always been that way from the start, when Yeosang’s world shifted slightly and suddenly there were extra clothes in his closet that didn’t belong to him and a pair of sneakers frequenting his doorway. His nights were suddenly filled with legs entangled with his on the couch and sparkling eyes pouring into his own, always without fail making his breath catch in his throat. Seonghwa’s studies brought fabrics draped over couches, scraps sewn into his jackets and his heart, and the comforting feeling of knowing that the older would be there when he got home from classes, lap open for his head to lay in, and fingers ready to card through his hair without any words spoken. The thing about Seonghwa was that he never asked for anything in return, as if Yeosang himself was enough to amount to something equal.

The presence of Seonghwa in his life kept him grounded when he needed to be, but it didn’t exactly get rid of everything he’d ever been through in the past. They had talked quite a bit, reminiscing on anything from their elementary school experiences to the long summers of high school, but Yeosang had only let him in just enough to graze the thick walls of his mind. Seonghwa was an attentive listener and he was compassionate, but he didn’t pressure the other into saying anything he wasn’t comfortable expressing. There were topics that were simply not brought up, like the way Yeosang avoided certain foods like the plague or the way he gave too much of himself to his passions and suffered greatly with expectations. The most the other could do is be there for him- like he was now, perched on the railing with his feet dangling above the water, flowing like the vibrations of his heart in his chest.

Yeosang broke the silence with a deep laugh, getting to his feet easily and smiling up to where Seonghwa was watching him.

“Do you want to dance, hyung?” he said unexpectedly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Although it was late into the night and he’d been crying only minutes ago, Yeosang’s face was glowing with something unique, drawing Seonghwa in like a moth. Dance would be both the life and death of him, something that’d been a part of him for so long but he sometimes wished he could do anything but just that. Dance was supposed to be his therapy, but nowadays it came more as an obstacle to him. But he wasn’t in the studio now, there were no judges, and there was no competition. He could look over at Seonghwa as he followed him down to the sea and feel something other than distress, because he wasn’t the mirror, nor the audience. He was just… just Seonghwa. Seonghwa, who wore soft hoodies with silly words and cried over romantic movies when the characters said their I love yous. He was just the boy that wore prescription glasses at home and sewed patches into his jeans to make some sort of statement. The one who tried his best to figure out everything running through Yeosang’s mind with a simple gaze, and the one who understood him like no one else did.

And so it must’ve looked silly, two college students running around the beach during midterm, screams of laughter cutting into the night. Yeosang was twirling and leaping without a care in the world, and he felt free and unjudged and full of life. The stage used to feel like this, when he wasn’t doing weekly weigh-ins or getting lectured on how to present himself as a dancer. But with only the older’s eyes on him, he let go of everything and anything and let himself be happy for once in life. There were no expectations from the person who loved him the most- it was just his raw, unperfect, and flawed being.

It was just Yeosang, and he was definitely enough in Seonghwa’s eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think in the comments! Remember that you are valid and super cool.
> 
> (While writing this: What a Feeling by One Direction, Personal by Emotional Oranges, All I Know by Noah Kittinger)


End file.
